Related Resource

National Land Parcel Data: A Vision for the Future (June 2007)

Land parcel data (also known as cadastral data) provides geographically-referenced information about the rights, interests, and ownership of land and are an important part of the financial, legal and real estate systems of society. The data are used by governments to make decisions about land development, business activities, regulatory compliance, emergency response, and law enforcement. In 1980, a National Research Council report called for nationally-integrated land parcel data, but despite major progress in development of land parcel databases in many local jurisdictions, little progress has been made towards a national system. Therefore, this National Research Council report was sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, the Census Bureau, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, the Department of Homeland Security, and Environmental Systems Research Institute, to look at the current status of land parcel data in the United States. This report concludes that nationally-integrated land parcel data is necessary, feasible, and affordable, and provides recommendations for establishing a practical framework for sustained intergovernmental coordination and funding required to overcome the remaining challenges and move forward.